Monday, August 14, 2017

I was cleaning my craft room again - (it always seems to be in need of organization - anyone else's like that?) - and I came across some pages from cardmaking magazines that I saved for inspiration - one card jumped out at me. A card by Rae Barthel. I don't have a link to the card but click HERE to see her blog - she's really talented!My aunt recently bought a Cricut machine - that thing is so cool!!! While I was visiting we spent some time figuring it out and I came home with a few goodies, one of which was the mustache I used on this card. The mustache paired with the woodgrain textured paper and the bold b&w stripes makes for a simple masculine card. I came home with a couple other items and have some ideas for more masculine cards.Happy Stampin'and thanks so much for visiting!supplies:stamps: Back to Basics (SU)ink: midnight (CP Designs)paper: whisper white thick (SU), wood texture designs (SU), smoky slate (SU), pop of pink dsp (retired SU)accessories: stitched stackable rectangles (lawn fawn), craft foam (Michaels)

Friday, August 11, 2017

The challenge theme at CAS-ual Fridays is Friendship and what better stamp set to use than the Girlfriend set from CAS-ual Fridays.

I used a technique called faux bleaching that Catherine Pooler shared and you can see HERE. It's super easy and so much fun!

Here's a close-up of the 'bleaching' that's done with water - I know right! Water! Easy and no chemical smell - a win, win! Just sponge on the ink and then spritz your stamp with a little water and hold for a couple of seconds so as to give the bleaching effect.

I also used the dotted circle stamp from another CAS-ual Fridays set called

Big Thanks. I love how they look together.

When I was trying to decide which colors to use on this card I remembered that a couple of months ago on StampNation we talked about unexpected color combos. I decided to close my eyes, reach into my Catherine Pooler inks and which ever 3 colors I grabbed would be the ones I used.

Monday, August 7, 2017

I've been away from my craft room for about 2 weeks. I did manage to sneak in a few minutes one morning but I was definitely having crafting withdrawals. I even went without internet for a few days - that was hard! But I'm home and playing and creating again - so much fun!

I used the Whole Shebang stamp set from CAS-ual Fridays for the sentiment of this card. There's so many cute sentiments to pair with the HB2U stamp that it was hard to choose. I embossed it with gold embossing powder and paired it with the candles from a Recollections stamp set and I have no idea what it's called - sorry, and some woodgrain DSP from Stampin' Up! I used the yellow and scarlet red Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers to color in the flames.